ECO: Barrier version of plastic-free Earthpouch hitting the shelves

A BARRIER version of Sirane’s award-winning plastic-free packaging solution is now available – with options including stand-uppouch, bag and flow-wrap film.

Sirane’s plastic-free packaging ‘Earthpouch’ won a top prize at the UK Packaging Awards – taking first place in the Resource Efficient Pack of the Year category.

And a barrier version is hitting the shelves soon – with a high-barrier version set to follow soon – as Sirane’s Earth Packaging range continues to expand.

Simon Balderson, Sirane MD, said: “Earthpouch is a great product, a paper-based packaging solution with a natural coating that makes it entirely plastic-free.

“The barrier version – and the high-barrier version which is going to be released soon – were the obvious next steps, allowing more sectors of the market and packers of different products to use an environmentally-friendly packaging solution.”

The Earthpouch – an industry first – is made from a paper with a 100% plastic-free heat-sealable coating which is then formed into a preformed stand-uppouch which provides total food security for dry and moist food products. The material is now also available as an Earthbag and as a flow-wrap Earthfilm with the same properties.

Judges at the recent UK Packaging Awards described the Earthpouch as an “Innovative pack that will deliver the single material to simplify the recycling stream, with many pouches now on the market and a trend for reusable and therefore refillable this is a welcome addition as a pack format option.”

Simon Balderson added: “One of the great things about the Earthpouch is that it is also cost-effective, often environmentally-friendly packaging comes at a cost, with Earthpouch that’s not the case, there really are no negatives.

“We know customers have different requirements in terms of barriers, depending on what they are packing, and we’re working on having a solution for everyone.”

One of the common questions with pouches like the Earthpouch is ‘how to we pack it?’ We’ve also recently added a pouch-filling line to our offering, the M7, which is compatible with the Earthpouch as well as a range of other materials.

The Earthpouch is just one of a range of compostable/recyclable products and packaging solutions Sirane has developed over the years – and it has been placed in our Earth Packaging range: compostable; recyclable and sustainable.

The UK Packaging Awards success comes on the back of a great few months, in which the plastic-free packaging has earned serious industry recognition.

The Earthpouch was recognised earlier this year at the Sustainable Food Awards in Amsterdam, where it finished third in the sustainable packaging category.

And we’ve also been awarded a Green Apple Environment Award for Environmental Best Practice – which will be presented at the House of Parliament on November 12.